Opening up the dialogue on death

Dear friends and neighbors,

I gained a much deeper appreciation for why talking about the end of life is such a difficult topic for all of us. Very few of us really want to talk about the coming death of a loved one and so when the time comes, most of us are unprepared and possibly in a state of shock. Siobhan Greene is an expert on opening up the dialogue on this topic, which almost all of us will have to deal with sometime in our lives.

This interview is the first in my new series exploring death, dying and where psychedelic medicine may fit in. Please watch, read, or listen to the interview, and let me know what you think in the comments.

Through the end of life – Siobhan Greene

On a related note, I am currently embarking on a new series featuring healing stories from those who have benefitted from psychedelics at the end of life, or in the face of a terminal diagnosis. I hope to interview those with direct personal experience, as well as relatives, friends, and clinicians with stories to share. Please email my producer if you would like to be interviewed on my program, and featured in a future book on this topic.

Wishing you Golden Light,

Dr. Richard Louis Miller

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This podcast will always remain available at no cost. However, I’d like to offer my most loyal listeners additional options for enjoying my interviews – both as videos and transcripts.

Further Reading:

• Psychedelic Wisdom- PREORDER TODAY

• Psychedelic Medicine

• End of Life Option Act

• Go Wish Game

Transcript

Richard Louis Miller: The following program, Mind Body Health & Politics, is brought to you by our Mind Body Health & Politics team, which consists of our producer, Charlie Deist, our associate producer, Alli Kelly, our sound engineer, David Springer, and our editor, Florian Furin. 

This program has been coming to you for roughly 20 years and the mission is to enhance physical and psychological wellbeing and to encourage community. What I mean when I say “encourage community” is that I believe that human beings are friendly tribal animals. When we live together in small enough groups, where we know everyone by name or at least by face, we're very cooperative and collaborative animals. 

But we must also be very mindful that there are a small percentage of us who are avaricious, greedy, dangerous predators, and that small group would rule us if they could. They would turn us back into subjects rather than the citizens that we are. So, we must be ever mindful of how important it is to maintain our democracy and our republic and to maintain a political awareness. 

I remind you the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." 

Today on Mind Body Health & Politics, we have Siobhan Greene, who's going to talk to us about hospice. We may also be able to talk about CASA (court-appointed special advocates), which some of you may remember that we did a whole program on with Cheryl Hildebrand, and also we've been talking to an advocate of CASA, Norm Duvall, for many years. 

Welcome, Siobhan.

Siobhan Greene: Thank you. Lovely to be here.

Hospice and encouraging community

Richard Louis Miller: Are we going to talk about your hospice program first, or do you want to talk about CASA? 

Siobhan Greene: Well, I think it's really important to talk about hospice and end of life. It seems that is an area that really beckons us to deepen community and our understanding about end of life, how that process works, and what we need from one another.